Monday, July 3, 2017

20 words ending with 'sto'

I'm sure that many of you know that kirja and kirjasto mean a book and a library. The meaning of sto is usually a group or a collection of something, but it is not always so obvious. You can try to be creative with this ending, but don't be surprised if people don't understand what you mean.:) Here are 20 quite common words that end with sto. I have put the root word first and the derivated word second. Feel free to share more words and translations in the comments!

elin > elimistö

huone > huoneisto

kirja > kirjasto

kone > koneisto

laiva > laivasto

luu > luusto

maa > maasto

mies > miehistö

näppäin > näppäimistö

ohjelma > ohjelmisto

osa > osasto

oppi > opisto

saari > saaristo

tila > tilasto

puu > puisto

sivu > sivusto

toimi > toimisto

verkko > verkosto

virka > virasto

väki > väestö

Notice, that usually you need the plural stem before the sto ending. If a short (one or two syllables) noun ends with an a, o or u, the sto is added to the singular stem. The words ending with i have either singular or plural stem.

Translations:

elin > elimistö - an organ > a body, an organism

huone > huoneisto - a room > a set of rooms, a suite

kirja > kirjasto - a book > a library

kone > koneisto - a machine > a machinery

laiva > laivasto - a boat, a ship > a navy

luu > luusto - a bone > the bones (NOT a graveyard, although that would be very logical!)

maa > maasto - land > a ground, a terrain

mies > miehistö - a man > a crew

näppäin > näppäimistö - a button, a key > a keyboard

osa > osasto - a part > a department

ohjelma > ohjelmisto - a programme > a software, a repertoire

oppi > opisto - learning > a college, an institute

saari > saaristo - an island > an archipelago

tila > tilasto - a place, a state > statistics

puu > puisto - a tree > a park (Yes, this is a plural stem. There is also puusto which means the trees of a certain area.)

sivu > sivusto - a page > a (web)site

toimi > toimisto - a chore, a task > an office

verkko > verkosto - a web > a network

virka > virasto - a public office/ position > a bureau

väki > väestö - a crowd > a population

Oh, sometimes sto-words can also be nouns derived from verb type 1 verbs. (I should write more about this topic!)